


A Crooked Smile

by Yuilhan



Category: Haikyuu!!, Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime), 弱虫ペダル | Yowamushi Pedal, 恋は雨上がりのように ∣ Koi wa Ameagari no You ni ∣ Love is like After the Rain (Manga), 風が強く吹いている | Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru | Run with the Wind (Anime)
Genre: AU, Family, Gen, Have a giftfic on me!, I feel like he's far too conversational in this fic, I felt inspired, Multiple Fandoms, Other, Sports, crack-ish i guess, no beta we die like men, why can I not write Kurahara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-02 10:53:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17262938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuilhan/pseuds/Yuilhan
Summary: (For jfiacre.)“So,” said Yukihiko, eying Kakeru from his end of the dinner table that evening. “Any more freakishly athletic people in your family we should know about?”





	A Crooked Smile

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jfiacre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jfiacre/gifts).
  * Inspired by [discomfort runs skin deep](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16591649) by [jfiacre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jfiacre/pseuds/jfiacre). 



> Inspired by [jfiacre’s ‘discomfort runs skin deep’](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16591649)
> 
> Happy New Year, everyone! What are your goals for this year? Mine was to have this posted sooner rather than later, because it has been waiting in my writing folder for about three weeks now. Whoops...  
> I read a brilliant fic by jfiacre where _Haikyuu!!_ ’s Kageyama is the stepbrother to Kurahara and couldn’t help but feel inspired. I thought, why not extend Kakeru’s mysterious family to include every prodigious black-haired athlete? Prepare yourself for a few cameos. Of course, creative liberties have been taken with canonical plots, so maybe this should be considered AU?

 

**A Crooked Smile**

* * *

“So,” said Yukihiko, eying Kakeru from his end of the dinner table that evening. “Any more freakishly athletic people in your family we should know about?”

Kakeru Kurehara’s personal life, like his athletic career, was messy. There was a reason why he had been roughing it instead of living in cushy dorms like the rest of his peers—other than his dwindling allowance, that is. His mother did her best, but once Kakeru’s course fees had been paid for the funds left over hadn’t been enough to pay for accommodation. Kakeru didn’t want to worry her though. His mother had enough on her plate, and internalising what he felt seemed to be a genetic trait. Tobio’s behaviour was a glaringly obvious indication that both he and Kakeru’s mannerisms were frighteningly similar.

His own father, Tobio’s father too, had walked out on Kakeru and his mother when Kakeru was a toddler. He and his mother hadn’t known about Tobio until a few years later, when his father had tried to come crawling back. Things hadn’t been working out with the mistress—Tobio’s mother, who Mr Kurahara had abandoned his family for—and in the end the two jilted women had sent Mr Kurahara packing. However united in their cause Ms Kageyama and Kakeru’s mother might have been, that did not mean they wanted further contact with each other. It was just too painful, and as it stood, Kakeru had only seen his step-brother a handful of times over the years. The entire affair (quite literally) had been swept under the rug.

Tobio had scarfed down the meal Haiji had prepared, the rest of the dorm looking on in amusement at the teen’s voracious appetite. While they sedately chewed their way through helpings of rice, dumplings, and steamed veggies, Tobio had bath privileges. Traditionally, the eldest members of the household bathed first, but Tobio had looked so uncomfortable sat at the tiny table between the twins that Nico had sent him off to the baths early. Even Kakeru had felt a twinge of sympathy for the teen; he’d also wanted to run for the hills when Haiji had forced him into living at the dorms.

Kakeru’s chopsticks paused partway on their course to his mouth. “’Freakishly athletic’?” he scoffed.

“Tobi was telling me that he plays volleyball,” Haiji chirped gleefully. “Apparently the high school team he plays on is doing well competitively, and they have a shot at this thing called ‘Nationals’.”

‘Tobi’? Kakeru frowned. He doubted his stepbrother would have given Haiji permission to call him that, though Kakeru supposed Haiji was just doing what he wanted. Like he always did, really. Tobio’s own opinions and stubbornness, if he was anything like Kakeru, would and could not withstand the scurrility of a denizen of hell.

“Yeah,” Kakeru offered weakly, shrinking under his dorm mate’s eyes.

“So, do you?” Nico probed, scratching at the stubble on his chin with the handles of his chopsticks.

“Do I what?”

“Have any other athletic relatives we should keep an eye out for?”

Kakeru thought about it for a moment. With everything that went on with his father, both Kakeru and his mother hadn’t kept in regular contact with their extended family. It made holidays and birthdays less of a hassle, because although the true meaning of westernised holidays hadn’t really been adapted into everyday Japanese life, that didn’t mean his family wasn’t down for a knees-up. Alcohol and an uncle you hadn’t seen since ‘You were this big!’ were not the best combination. Still, Kakeru knew enough about his extended family to say that those in his generation especially were plenty talented.

“Well, there’s Tobio,” he said, pausing to nab the final dumpling off the platter before anyone else could snatch it up. Haiji would meticulously note down Kakeru’s extra dumpling in his little book later, but Kakeru shook off the discomfort of Haiji’s stalkerish concentration of his eating habits, if only to witness the miffed puckering of Yuki’s lips. He’d been eying that lone dumpling for a while. “We have a cousin who’s into track and field. She’s being scouted for a possible Olympic appearance.”

“Does she run distance?” Haiji had stars in his eyes.

“No.” Kakeru resisted the urge to drop his head into his hands and sigh. “Akira is wickedly quick. Has been since we were all tiny. I think she’s starting University next year though, so the hope is she can find a good track and field team close to home.”

Nico frowned. “Why not go to where the facilities are the best?”

“Well, last I heard from her, she’s apparently shacking up with some middle-aged writer and his kid.”

The dinner table’s occupants continued to eat, rather awkwardly after that revelation. Kakeru wanted to snort; he wasn’t the most tactful when it came to polite conversation, but Akira was frosty at best to strangers. So, why would he get the twins hopes up about whether his cousin was single or not? Also, she really was invested in being courted by this bloke. Apparently, he felt the same. Kakeru wished them the best of luck, or well, he’d tried to. Akira had told him to butt out of her life, and then rung him back five minutes later to ask where she could buy some decent support tape for her leg (and to apologise for accusing him of meddling).

“Little Imaizumi’s apparently the high school road biking world’s darling, though I don’t speak with him often—and no, Haiji-san, he’s only interested in cycling so don’t bother.” Imaizumi was vaguely related to him through Akira’s mother’s side of the family. Both he and Akira had the killer death-glare thing going for them, but thankfully they were just as passionate at their own respective events. Cycling was a source of constant frustration for Imaizumi’s younger sister, who often sent Kakeru updates now that she was a preteen and old enough for her first flip-phone about how her brother did nothing but cycle.

“So, you’re all freakishly talented then?” Yukihiko grumbled. He looked a little put out, and part of Kakeru wished he hadn’t said anything.

Yes, some people hit the genetic jack pot, but Kakeru was beginning to slowly learn that being good at something didn’t account for the hard work others put in to learning something new. Another part of Kakeru, the part that curled warmly at the prospect of being _the best_ , wanted to wipe the knowing smirk off of Yuki’s face. His family, broken as it was, were amazing. They were scattered across Japan and across different disciplines, but their drive, their spirit, and their love for what they did burned with the same intensity. Why should Yuki be the one to disparage them when Kakeru and Tobio, as well as their many cousins, all had issues and hurdles to conquer in their daily lives too?

“Well, Tobio, Akira, and Imaizumi are amazing at what they do despite their ages, but that’s just my father’s side of the family,” said Kakeru far too conversationally. “Yuuri and his husband keep battling it out for the gold at the Grand Prix final every season, despite them both pushing past the retirement age for figure skaters.”

Ignoring how Nico had spat his tea all over the remainder of his meal, Kakeru continued. “Actually, I was meaning to ask you about some low-calorie dishes Haiji. Yuuri gains weight quite easily off-season, so he needs dishes that are nourishing but won’t add to his waistline.”

The corners of Kakeru’s lips tugged upwards. Haiji babbled on about recipes, the others cleared their plates, but Yuki…

“Of course, they’re all freakishly athletic,” Kakeru’s sempai whispered, pushing his glasses up to sit atop his head and pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

From beside the doorway, having returned from the baths and awkwardly pressing himself against the hallway wall to stall his return to the kitchen (all the while shamelessly eavesdropping), Tobio’s lips rose into a crooked smile.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come natter with me [here!](https://yuilhan-writes-things.tumblr.com/)


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